I've been away for awhile.
And on my travels I managed to a accrue a couple of hockey magazines - they're good reading for short flights - so a I figured a little run-down-and-critique was in order. First up:
The Hockey News Ultimate Pool Guide
What you'd expect for THN - lots of content, much of it useful, some of it not-so-much. An example of the latter sort would include picking the Flames to win the Stanley Cup (I wish the mags would stop doing this) as well as predicting the winners of many of the major year-end awards (names include Crosby, Staal, Iginla, Kiprusoff, Niedermayer and Malkin). While I understand the throbbing need for pundits and fans to foolishly pontificate on such matters during the dog days of summer, it still doesn't detract from the fact that picking a cup winner in August is completely absurd. Although, to their credit, THN admit that their past predictions have been less than accurate. I guess August Champions with an astericks is good page filler.
A feature on Iginla is included near the front. It focuses on his relatively disappointing season last year and what he expects of himself and the team in 06/07. Of particular interest to Flames fans is Iginla's re-vamped summer fitness regime - apparently Jarome decided to work more on speed and agility than strength this off-season. The hope is to take greater advantage of the obstruction crack-down.
Another article discusses a THN pseudo-stat called the "I.Q." (Intimidation Quotient), which is determined by multiplying a player's goal total by three and then summing the resultant product with the player's penalty-minutes (minus the major misconducts). The aim, I think, is to statistically identify the NHL's true "power forwards" - guys that produce and play with an edge. The problem, of course, is that the formula seems relatively arbitrary (why multiply the goal total by 3? Why aren't assists included?) while some of the variables should be better controlled (why exclude 10 minute majors in the PIM total while including stuff like diving?). THN's list of the top 20 "IQ" scores from last season speaks more to the stat's dubious analytical power than to anything else: Sidney Crosby had the highest IQ with 227. Olli Jokinen was 5th with 202. Other names on the list? Marc Savard (9th - 184), Dainius Zubrus (16th - 153) and Max Afinogenov (19th - 150)...
Savard and Zubrus. Power fowards.
Right.
It looks to me like this IQ thing is a gimmick that THN made up to generate articles and little else. I guess it could be potentially useful if your particular hockey pool rewards both goals and penalty minutes...but in terms of actual, real-life valuation of players, it's nearly useless.
Other Stuff:
9 players are predicted to score more than 100 points, with Crosby again topping the list at 116. Personally, I think this is a "generously optimistic" forecast. It would take a full year of playing with players of roughly equivalent talent to produce at that rate - and since it's likely that Malkin will be centering the Pen's second line, Im guessing Sid the Kid is probably going to gather very similar totals to last season. Similarly, Alexander Ovechkin is placed at #3 with 112 points. While it's possible that the injection of (Alexander) Semin into the Caps top line is going to bear offensive fruit, so to speak, I don't see it myself.
As well, each team is outlined with top player point predictions, depth charts, some minor prospect details as well as the expected "placing" prediction. THN expects the Ducks to win the West and the Senators to be regular season victors in the East. Three NW division teams are placed outside of the play-off picture (Edmonton, Vancouver, Colorado) which I find hard to imagine (they have 4 pacific teams making it...including the Kings). Yes, these predictions are made to be laughed at in hindsite...but, based on the info we have now...Colorado in 12th place and the Kings in 8th is eye-brow raising fare, at the very least. I'd say more, but I'm saving my own predictions for another post.
Finally, almost 100 pages of THN's fantasy mag is dedicated to individual player evaluation and point projections for next season. This section is definately useful for those rabid poolies who endlessly search for that hidden diamond-in-the-rough that's going to propel them to victory. It's also relatively interesting for fans of various teams to see where the pundits think their favored stars will end up next year ... (Iginla's forecast: 48 goals, 45 assists for 93 points).
Overall - recomended. Especially if you're flying somewhere.
Next up -The Sporting News
